Covid infections killed 11,000 patients being treated for other things

Covid infections picked up on hospital wards have killed 11,000 patients who were being treated for something else, figures show

• More than 11,000 died in NHS hospitals after they tested positive for Covid  
• They caught the virus and died in hospital while being treated for other illnesses
• FOI data from English NHS trusts shows they probably caught the virus there 
• This accounted for one in eight Covid deaths in hospital, according to the data

More than 11,000 patients have caught Covid and died in NHS hospitals while being treated for other illnesses.

Freedom of Information data from NHS trusts in England revealed that 11,688 patients who died in hospital after testing positive for Covid probably caught the virus there.

This accounted for one in eight Covid deaths in hospital.

More than 11,000 patients who died in hospital after testing positive for Covid probably caught the virus there, according to Freedom of Information data from NHS trusts in England

Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative chairman of the health select committee, told The Daily Telegraph: ‘These numbers are truly shocking.

‘Hospital infections have been the deadliest silent killer of the pandemic…it surely strengthens the case for mandatory vaccination for frontline healthcare staff.’ 

Figures from University Hospitals Birmingham show it recorded as many as 484 deaths of patients who were thought to have caught the virus on wards during the pandemic.

But the hospital trust said it was one of the ‘largest’ in the country and had ‘treated over 18,000 Covid-19 patients…significantly more than any other hospital trust’.

Meanwhile, at four acute NHS trusts, more than a quarter of patients who died with the virus had caught it while in hospital.

Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative chairman of the health select committee, told The Daily Telegraph: ‘These numbers are truly shocking’

And 34 trusts said that one in five patients who had died after a positive Covid test had become infected in their care.

Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust saw 213 patients die after catching Covid on its wards, accounting for a third of all its Covid deaths.

The Countess of Chester said Covid patients made up ‘more than 70 per cent of [its] general and acute beds at one point’ meaning it was ‘one of the most seriously affected trusts in the North of England’.

Barbara Keeley, the Labour MP and a member of the health select committee, told The Daily Telegraph: ‘We have to learn the lessons so that scandals like this don’t happen again.’

An NHS spokesman said: ‘Covid-19 hospital infection rates account for less than one per cent of all cases since the pandemic began and cases have reduced significantly since the NHS vaccination rollout.’

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